Uncomfortable S2 - Day 9
Holy Ground?
21. Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”
A few things are happening in this text that are worth noting. The first is that Araunah asked a reasonable and thoughtful question about what was happening. He knew something important was going on but wanted to ensure he knew his role. Secondly, David recognized that placing an altar of protection where the Lord had asked him would be a shield for the people and the plague would be stopped.
I have always thought that this text reminds us that when we create altars to God, places where people might be able to worship and remember God, those places become Holy and consecrated.
But those places don’t always start out that way. David was buy a threshing floor for grain. Not something particularly holy, but it was useful. It would have had enough space to build the altar with stones, and it would have been where people could see it. However, it wouldn’t be holy until God inhabited their worship.
This somewhat reminds me of when Moses was in the desert in Sinai and saw a burning bush. The voice in the bush told him that he was standing on Holy Ground. However, he wasn’t. He was standing on dirt. It was probably the same dirt that he had been standing on for years at this point. But when God showed up, the mundane becomes extraordinary, the things you think are secular or neutral become holy, and their meaning and existence change.
The same is true when we build an altar to God through worship. We are then standing on Holy Ground, or driving in a Holy Car, or our homes become sanctuaries for the Holy Spirit. Worship doesn’t make things holy, but it allows for a space for the Holy Spirit to show up, and then everything changes to holy and sacred, and the presence of God can be seen.
JOURNAL:
“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”
A few things are happening in this text that are worth noting. The first is that Araunah asked a reasonable and thoughtful question about what was happening. He knew something important was going on but wanted to ensure he knew his role. Secondly, David recognized that placing an altar of protection where the Lord had asked him would be a shield for the people and the plague would be stopped.
I have always thought that this text reminds us that when we create altars to God, places where people might be able to worship and remember God, those places become Holy and consecrated.
But those places don’t always start out that way. David was buy a threshing floor for grain. Not something particularly holy, but it was useful. It would have had enough space to build the altar with stones, and it would have been where people could see it. However, it wouldn’t be holy until God inhabited their worship.
This somewhat reminds me of when Moses was in the desert in Sinai and saw a burning bush. The voice in the bush told him that he was standing on Holy Ground. However, he wasn’t. He was standing on dirt. It was probably the same dirt that he had been standing on for years at this point. But when God showed up, the mundane becomes extraordinary, the things you think are secular or neutral become holy, and their meaning and existence change.
The same is true when we build an altar to God through worship. We are then standing on Holy Ground, or driving in a Holy Car, or our homes become sanctuaries for the Holy Spirit. Worship doesn’t make things holy, but it allows for a space for the Holy Spirit to show up, and then everything changes to holy and sacred, and the presence of God can be seen.
JOURNAL:
- What is God making Holy in your life through where and when you worship?
- What can we give to God with the places and spaces of our lives where God can show up and be remembered?
- Where is your holy ground?
By Pastor Tim Gillespie
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Posted in Uncomfortable: S2
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